Change and Nas
As many people who know me will tell you, I don’t like change or moving on. I don’t want to get rid of any of my childhood toys. I hate losing touch with with people. Even the end of the school year is bittersweet. Reminiscing on the “good days” makes me especially sad because I don’t like coming to terms with how things have already changed and how the world has moved on even if I wasn’t ready.
This is such a sad concept to me in narratives and real life too. I hate the stories about washed up has-beens who nobody remembers or who die alone. This is a slightly weird example but I was researching for a history paper on Frederick the Great and I found out that he died alone, outliving all of his friends and even his enemies, way past his prime. (Although not the song I want to talk about today, Viva La Vida encapsulates that feeling really well for me). People like Mike Posner chasing their one hit wonder highs really make me sad. Crash from Bull Durham and even Doc Hudson from Cars as bitter old men who were replaced before they were ready to go really strike a nerve with me. I just can’t seem to move on from the past so I empathize with these characters and people a lot. I find it very easy to put myself in their shoes and imagine the good times that have long gone.
I guess this was a long winded intro to explain why this line stands out to me. The song is called The Message by Nas from his 1996 Album “It Was Written.” The 2 bars that stand out to me are at the end of the second verse:
And best friends become strangers”
This really strikes me because it is not intended to be a sad song at all but this one line makes it one for me. This lyric is just people growing apart and moving on and Nas does not really regard it as as significant and quickly moves on from the fleeting feeling and it remains more of an afterthought in the song. He regards it as inevitable and doesn’t really think much much about it but it is right before the chorus and always gives me plenty of time to contemplate it when I listen. This line coupled with the mellow sound soft guitar in the background just make this a somewhat somber song for me.
There isn’t any wordplay or really significant message that is trying to be gotten across to the listener but my own opinions and feelings on the topic I guess imbue this lyric with much more meaning than Nas even intended. I just associate this lyric with the unpleasant feeling of change but even more so the final stage of acceptance of change which is more bittersweet than anything. I think of the good times that have gone. I think of the friends who have drifted away. I even put myself in Nas’ shoes and imagine all the friends he has departed from. I can learn to live with these changes but it never feels good and this song just kind of evokes those feelings for me with that one lyric midway through the song.
Wow, it's really compelling to see how much meaning and depth can be associated in just two lines of a song. I can definitely relate with you on a lot of your points; the feeling of moving on and time passing just stings in its own indescribable way. I think it's really interesting to see how something like music can draw out this feeling seemingly better than we can.
ReplyDeleteSomething that keeps popping up on my TikTok is the quote that says "you don't know you're in the good old days until they're over" which actually prompted me to incorporate it into a blogpost of my own. Anyway, I feel really similar to you, in that I hate when things come to an end. With all the college talk happening recently it makes me wonder what relationships I'll hold with my classmates after school ends in a few months and we go our separate ways. I would hate to actually become strangers with all the friends I've made here.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you opened the post with your thoughts on a certain topic, that being change, and then linked it to song and lyrics, overall it was very well written and pleasing to read.
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